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Android 4.4 KitKat To Be Available Soon On Nexus 4, 7, 10, HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4

After the recent availability of the Android 4.3 to some of the flagships like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4, Google seems to have a real treat for everyone as these devices are soon getting the KitKat taste of the Android OS.

With the launch of the much leaked Nexus 5, it is the first device to feature the latest Android OS. The device is now available on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. The device is priced at 28999 INR for 16 GB variant.

In some part of the press release issued with the launch it notes:

Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.

Whereas, HTC says that the HTC One Google Play edition will be update in 15 days, and the standard HTC One will be updated within 90 days.

November 1, 2013
Android 4.4 KitKat Users Can Say ‘Ok Google’ to Search Without a Single Touch

Google has announced the “oh so leaked” Nexus 5 officially and this time around it has popped up on the Indian Play Store as well. The Nexus 5 has a lot of specs similar to the LG G2 a 2.2 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM, a 4.95-inch 1080p display.

However, what we are going to talk about is the benefits of the latest Android 4.4 aka KitKat. Google has added a plenty of useful features to the its latest version of Android, the Android 4.4 will have a new immersive mode which will hide everything in the background and will just show your up what you want to see, be it reading a book watching a movie or even playing a game. The Google Hangouts have been talked about lately and will supposedly allow to send and receive messages, all the SMS and MMS will be kept in the Hangouts app so that you do not miss any important message, claims Google.

‘Okay Google’, these Touchless Controls are a part of the new Android, although these are not new but are advanced. With the Nexus 5 launch, users will have the ability to set hot keywords as a means of activating or “waking up” Now voice search. Which means you will be able to link any word you’d like to start voice commands on Google Now. Overall, speech recognition is said to be made 25% more accurate and manual access to Google Now can be triggered by a swipe to the left.

Google Cards will be improved, as it will now display information based on a user’s current activity, for example if you are near a theater it might show up with ticket availability, or if you search for any TV show it might give you updates for the show itself.

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November 1, 2013
Google announces the Nexus 5 with Android 4.4, 16 GB for Rs. 28999

Google has announced the “oh so leaked” Nexus 5 officially and this time around it has popped up on the Indian Play Store as well. The Nexus 5 has a lot of specs similar to the LG G2 a 2.2Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM, a 4.95-inch 1080p display.

The Nexus 5 retains wireless charging and goes on sale in the US today for a price of US$ 349. You’ll also find LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac WiFi and NFC on the Nexus 5, along with Google’s latest Android KitKat (Aka 4.4). The front of the Nexus 5 is quite similar to the LG G2, and the bezels appear to be made of aluminum.

Considering India a key market, in the official press release Google mentioned :

Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India).

Pricing seems a bit higher compared to the US$ variant, however that has been the case since the launch of the first Nexus Device.

[toggle title=”Press Release”]Android for all and the new Nexus 5

Just in time for Halloween, we have two new treats for Android fans. First, we’re excited to unwrap our latest platform release, KitKat, which delivers a smarter, more immersive Android experience to even more people. And second, we’re introducing Nexus 5-a new Nexus phone developed with LG.

The first thing you’ll notice about KitKat is we’ve made the experience much more engaging: the book you’re reading, the game you’re playing, or the movie you’re watching-now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see.

Bringing more Google smarts to Android
Behind the polish on the screen is the power under the hood. Take the Phone app, which for most people hasn’t really changed since the days of flip phones. Now, we’re making calling easier than ever, by helping you search across your contacts, nearby places, or even Google Apps accounts (like your company’s directory), directly from within the app. And with the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same place, alongside your other conversations and video calls, so you’ll never miss a message no matter how your friends send it. This is just a small taste of KitKat-learn more on our site.

Google has always focused on helping users get immediate access to the information they need, and we want to bring this same convenience and power to users on Android. With the new Nexus 5 launcher, Google smarts are deeply integrated into the phone you carry around with you, so getting to the information you need is simple, easy and fast. Swipe once from the home screen to get Google Now literally at your fingertips. Put Google to work for you by saying “OK, Google” to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song you want to hear. And in the coming weeks, we’re enhancing Now with important new card types that bring you information about contextual topics that interest you such as updates from a favorite website or blog.

Reaching the next 1 billion users
Building a platform that makes mobile phones accessible for everyone has always been at the heart of Android. Until now, some lower-end Android phones couldn’t benefit from more recent Android releases due to memory constraints. With KitKat, we’ve slimmed down Android’s memory footprint by doing things like removing unnecessary background services and reducing the memory consumption of features that you use all the time. We did this not only within Android but across Google services like Chrome and YouTube. RAM (or memory) is one of the most expensive parts of a phone, and now Android can run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices that are popular in much of the world, bringing the latest goodies in Android 4.4 within reach for the next billion smartphone users.

Introducing Nexus 5
Along with our sweet naming tradition, we also introduce a new device with each platform release to showcase the latest Android innovations. For KitKat, we partnered with LG to develop Nexus 5 — the slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made. Its design is simple and refined to showcase the 5″ Full HD display. Nexus 5 also keeps you connected at blazing speeds with 4G/LTE and ultra fast wifi. The advanced new lens on Nexus 5 captures more light for brighter night and sharper action shots. And with optical image stabilization, you no longer have to worry about shaky hands and blurry pictures. A new HDR+ mode automatically snaps a rapid burst of photos and combines them to give you the best possible single shot. Learn more on our site.

Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. Just in the time for the holidays, Nexus 5 will be available soon at the following retailers: Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack.

Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.

How’s that for a treat?

Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps[/toggle]

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November 1, 2013
Apple iPad Market Share Plunges Below 30%

Just 15 months ago Apple commanded 70% of the global tablet market, but according to the latest figures from research firm IDC, the iPad has slipped to less than 30% market share. The reason is the growing threat from Android tablets from the likes of Samsung, Lenovo and Asus.

Apple’s decision to shift its iPad launches to the fall from earlier in the year appears to have undermined its standing versus rival tablet makers.

Even with that seasonal factor, the numbers don’t look great for Apple because its sales in Q3 2013 are just 100,000 iPads higher than the were in Q2 2013, and that’s with the new and cheaper iPad mini in the market. Also unwelcome is momentum for arch-rival Samsung, which managed to more than double its shipments from 4.3m to 9.7m. Lenovo also did well, pushing 2.3m ‘slabs out the door, up from 0.4m a year back.

Despite the stuttering Apple sales figures, the tablet market as a whole grew by 36% year-on-year and was up 7% compared to the second quarter of 2013.

The tablet market is starting to look like the smartphone market. Apple defines the industry, then watches as a bunch of low cost competitors eat up share. Apple is still the most profitable of the bunch.

Google sees the tablet market as a fresh opportunity to control personal computing. It has no chance of taking desktop computing away from Microsoft, so it’s attacking tablet computing, which eats into Apple’s market share.

October 31, 2013
Apple Looking Towards Solar Energy Charging For Its Devices

As PatentlyApple reports, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new power management system that will work with both a power adapter and seamlessly with a portable solar panel accessory for busy people on the go. Apple’s engineers are thinking big with their on-site solar power now creating the energy equivalent to powering 17,600 homes a year.

The experience that Apple’s engineers are gaining with working with solar panels is filtering through to creating a power management system for future Macs and iDevices. Apple has already been granted seven solar power patents thus far and you could review most of them in our Green Technology Archives.

Today’s patent goes one step further than most by introducing us to a solar power panel accessory for mobile devices like a MacBook or iPhone that won’t require a power converter. Apple’s system may be closer to reality than first thought considering that Apple’s senior power design engineer noted as the inventor of this system has been snatched by Samsung within the last year.

Apple’s USPTO patent filing describes a method for supplying power to components in an electronic device comprised of a power management system which accepts power from a solar panel and supplies it to the components without using a converter circuit between the solar panel and the power management system.

The power management system includes a system microcontroller (SMC) and a charger. During operation, the power management system accepts power from at least one of a power adapter and a solar panel.

The solution negates the need for bulky power converters (see the image above) which are engineered to take the varying voltage generated by a solar panel (which varies with the amount of sunlight) to provide the specific voltage required by a device.

The patent does offer hope to all the smartphone and notebook owners who always seem to run out of juice before the day is over.

October 31, 2013
Android 4.4 KitKat To Be Optimized For Low Memory Usage

Though we’ve seen plenty leaks of the Nexus 5, little is known about the next version of Android itself — other than its chocolate bar-related name, of course. Now, Amir Efrati of JessicaLessin.com has detailed a number of key upgrades to KitKat, based on a confidential document Google sent to its OEM partners.

In it, Google outlines key enhancements to low-memory devices such as entry-level handsets from Huawei, Samsung, ZTE and others. OEMs have traditionally been reticent to update older devices because there are performance considerations with newer versions of Android, especially as graphics acceleration becomes more ubiquitous throughout the OS. The other side of the coin is that, however easy Google makes it for OEMs to update, they’re still unlikely to spend the time, money and effort to do so, especially in the cheaper market.

KitKat is also purportedly optimized for wearables, which coincides nicely with the rumour that Google is readying a smartwatch for later this year or early 2014. KitKat is expected to support three new hardware sensors, according to Efrati: geomagnetic rotation vector, step detector and step counter. The latter two are important if you consider that many new devices are likely going to emulate the iPhone 5s in keeping track of users’ steps and elevation throughout the day.

Android 4.4 is also expected to improve NFC connectivity with certain types of hardware. That, and Bluetooth, are usually serviced by the OEMs themselves, leading to disparate and often incompatible executions of the same idea. This has lead to some wearable technology, like Fitbit’s line of health monitors, to have limited compatibility with Android hardware.

KitKat may also unify the IR stack for hardware manufacturers, bringing a uniform experience for virtual remote controls and other uses of infrared blasters.

We will likely know more in the coming days (or hours) so stay tuned!

October 31, 2013
Apple is Working for the Keyboard Fix of the 13 Inch Mackbook Pro Retina Display

Apple has acknowledged the keyboard issues with the 13 inch Mackbook Pro Retina display, the keyboard as well as on the trackpad.

The Cupertino based company has posted to its support forums that an update for the unresponsive inputs is en route, while the solution to this problem was closing the display for a full minute to reset the relevant hardware might be a solution.

Symptoms:

Apple is aware of rare circumstances where the built-in keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad may become unresponsive on 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (Late 2013) computers and is working on an update to resolve this behavior.

Resolution:

If you experience this issue, reset the keyboard and trackpad by closing the computer’s display for approximately one minute and then open it.

October 31, 2013
Google Now Selling Accessories to Explorer Edition Owners For Google Glass

While Google Glass is still away from people, the developers have been trying new ways to use it and enhance its usability. So, the Glass was available to the developers way back and now Google has also started selling out accessories for the wearable device.

The option in the store are, a visor like protection for the Glass or may be your eye which is priced at $75, also what is listed is an ear-bud for $50 but is not available as it says out of stock. This can be great for developers as these accessories might come handy for them for researches before Google makes Glass Public. However, this step from the company hints the public availability of the Glass soon.

October 31, 2013
Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 Unboxing and Hands On
Micromax has launched its latest flagship dubbed the Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 and we go Hands on with the device. Priced at Rs. 19999 the Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 features a Media Tek 6589T 1.5 Ghz quad-core CPU and a Power VR SGXT GPU, 16 Gigs of inbuilt storage along with a 2 GB of RAM. The Hugh Jackman promoted smartphone has a unidbody metal construction along with a Full HD display, the device runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

In The Canvas Turbo BOX.
The Canvas Turbo A250 is the first Canvas phone with a 5 inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The Canvas Turbo A250 also appears to be made with a full lightweight aluminum construction which at first appears to be plasticky. The device also sports a 13 MP primary camera along with a 5 MP secondary camera, the device is capable of Full HD 1080p video recording and 30 fps from both cameras.

The In Box contents of the Micromax devices have improved lately, as the quality of the earphones and the USB cable seems to be improved than what we saw earlier as standard. The Canvas Turbo A250 builds on the design from Canvas doodle 2 and the Canvas 4, the screen is Full HD but the UI is still the same which might not be appreciated by all.

Check out our unboxing video above. Benchmarks, Gaming and alot more to come soon, stay Tuned!
October 31, 2013
LG G Pro Lite a Dual SIM Phablet With Stylus Support Available for a Price of 22,990 INR

LG has launched a new mid range device, the LG G Pro Lite is a dual-SIM variant of Optimus G Pro and has been launched at a price of 22,990 INR.

LG G Pro Lite features a 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. The device is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core CPU along with a MediaTek 6577 Chipset, the device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly bean. The LG G Pro Lite has a Dual SIM support and is packed with a 1 GB of RAM coupled with 8 GB of inbuilt storage. The device sports a 8 MP BSI primary camera and a 1.3 MP secondary camera.

Soon Kwon, M.D, LG India said, “The LG G Pro Lite is a feature and experience rich smartphone specifically designed to provide communication flexibility to our growing customer base. We are strengthening our mobile portfolio by continuously adding-in feature and experience rich devices so as to provide our customers with competitive devices. The market for smartphones with displays over five inches will continue to grow and LG is in a great position to capture these new customers when they’re ready to move up from their current phones”.

LG G Pro Lite is equipped with a 3140 mAh battery and an integrated stylus pen which fits inside the smartphone itself. The device is 9.4 mm thick and weighs 161 grams. LG G Pro Lite comes with some preloaded apps that have been seen on devices like LG Optimus G Pro and the flagship, the G2. Some of the popular preloaded features included in the new phablet are KnockON, Pause and Resume Recording, QSlide, QuickMemo and QTranslator.

[toggle title=”Press Release “]LG G Pro Lite Dual SIM debuts in India

New Delhi, 29th October, 2013: LG Electronics today launched its latest smartphone device, LG G Pro Lite Dual. This dual SIM Phablet has dedicated hot key, which provides total communication flexibility, allowing users to manage two phone numbers from a single phone easier than ever. The new phablet comes with 5.5-inch qHD IPS display, runs on Android Jelly Bean and packs a huge 3,140mAh removable battery along with 8MP BSI camera and 1.3M front camera which produces detailed and sharp imagery which gives clarity even when zoomed in.

In addition to its large IPS display that produces true to nature colors and clearer images, the newly launched G Pro Lite has a qHD resolution and is powered by a 1GHz Dual core processor along with 1GB of RAM.

According to Mr. Soon Kwon, M.D, LG India, “The LG G Pro Lite is a feature and experience rich smartphone specifically designed to provide communication flexibility to our growing customer base. We are strengthening our mobile portfolio by continuously adding-in feature and experience rich devices so as to provide our customers with competitive devices. The market for smartphones with displays over five inches will continue to grow and LG is in a great position to capture these new customers when they’re ready to move up from their current phones”.

The phone is also designed with an ultra-narrow bezel for an incredible edge-to-edge viewing experience, slim design for optimal one-hand grip and convenient UX features shared with LG’s other premium G Series smartphones.

The Stylus Pen that is included with the LG G Pro Lite increases the smartphone’s usability. The Stylus Pen allows for quick and accurate handwriting and can be stored conveniently in a slot at the top of the phone. And for customers who are increasingly turning to their smartphones for entertainment, LG equipped the LG G Pro Lite with Dual Speakers for excellent audio performance with or without headphones.

LG G Pro Lite comes with some preloaded apps that have been seen on devices like LG Optimus G Pro and the flagship, the G2. Some of the popular preloaded features included in the new phablet are KnockON, Pause and Resume Recording, QSlide, QuickMemo and QTranslator.

LG G Pro Lite is priced at MRP Rs. 22,990 and will be available in various stores across India.

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October 30, 2013
Microsoft Remote Desktop Application for Various Platforms Nets 1 Million Downloads

Not so long ago it was announced that Microsoft’s Remote Desktop application is available for Android , iOS and Mac OS X devices, the company now claims that the application within few days of launch has reached 1 million downloads.

The Remote Desktop application, allows users to access their computers through other gadgets, is also the fastest growing among the company’s Android apps that include SkyDrive and Office Mobile. The company claims that these 1 million downloads are across all platforms, and this application has been the fastest growing Android application from Microsoft ever.

October 30, 2013
Apple Confirms Battery Life Defect on Some iPhone 5s Models

Apple has acknowledged that select iPhone 5s handsets have a manufacturing issue that results in battery draining much faster, Apple said in a statement to the New York Times.

We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life,” said Teresa Brewer, an Apple spokeswoman. “We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone”

Apple did not give up an exact number for the manufacturing issue on the iPhone 5s, but if we go with the statement it should not be a big unit of iPhone being defected as the statement clearly says very limited number of iPhone 5s. iPhone 5s has the biggest battery found on any iPhone, the company will reach out to the customers with defected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone.

The iPhone 5s will launch in India on 1st on November, the device is equipped with an A7 chip along with a fingerprint sensor aka Touch ID. iPhone 5s will be available in India at a price starting from 53,500 to 71,500 INR, prices are disappointing but not the product. If you want one, but can not afford try your luck on our Golden iPhone 5s Giveaway by clicking here. Check out our unboxing of White and Golden color of iPhone 5s, click here. How tough is the new iPhone ? check out out iPhone 5s drop test, click here.

October 30, 2013
Asus Launches Fonepad 7 in India for a Price of 17499 INR

Asus has also launched the new version of its Fonepad, the Fonepad 7 tablet in India for a price of 17499 INR. The device also supports voice calling and will be available starting November just like the newly launched Transformer T100.

The new Asus Fonepad 7 features a 7 inch LED backlit IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, the device is powered by a 1.6 GHz dual core Intel Atom Z2560 processor. The Fonepad 7 is packed with a 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of inbuilt storage. The device has a 5 MP rear camera which is capable to capture full HD video and also a secondary 1.2 MP camera.

The new Fonepad 7 runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is 10.5 mm thick, weighs 340 grams. The device has a 3950 mAh battery to which the company claims up to 28 hours of 3G talk time, 35 days of standby time and up to 10 hours of video playback.

October 29, 2013
Asus Launches Transformer Book T100 in India For 34099 INR

Asus today launched its Transformer Book T100 in India at a price of 34099 INR. The T100 is a laptop which can also be used as a tablet, the device runs on Windows 8.1 and will be available in November.

The Asus Transformer Book T100 features a 10.1 inch HD Glare display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixles and can be detached from the laptop and used as a tablet. The keyboard is equipped with a dock connector that attaches the tablet to turn into a laptop and also includes backlit keys.

The T100 is powered by a 1.33 GHz quad core Intel Atom Bay-trail T Z3740 processor along with Intel HD graphics. The Asus Transformer Book T100 is packed with a 2 GB of RAM and a 32 GB built-in eMMC storage expandable to 64 GB via microSD card. Asus says that the device can run almost through out the day and give 10 hours of continuous video playback. The 2 in 1 device has a 1.2 MP front facing camera.

The Asus Transformer Book T100 is powered by dual frontal speakers and weighs 1.07 Kg as a laptop and 550 grams as a tablet.

October 29, 2013
Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones and 14.1 million iPads last quarter

Apple’s earnings report is out and the Cupertino based computing giant has exciting numbers to show. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $37.5 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $36 billion and net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37 percent compared to 40 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple also sold 33.8 million iPhones compared to 26.9 million along with 14.1 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 14 million in the year-ago quarter. Comparing Smartphone sales Samsung Sold 86 million in the same quarter, but this number includes far more models than Apple offers including many a budget phones that don’t directly compete with iPhones. Samsung sold 16 million Galaxy S4 in what it calls “orders placed” that includes shipments to dealers and retail outlets, where the actual sale number remains low. Samsung also managed to snag 10 million tablet sales compared to the iPad’s 14.1 million, again however, the range Samsung offers is a lot more than that offered by Apple with the iPad.

The quarterly earnings didn’t include the iPad mini with Retina display or iPad Air, which were announced last week, and only included one week’s worth of sales for the latest iPhones, the 5c and 5s.

“We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones. We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO

October 29, 2013